Adam Wade, a suave entertainer and actor who starred in films including Shaft, Crazy Joe, and Claudine before becoming famous for hosting game shows, has died. Wade has three Billboard 100 top 10 hits in 1961. He was 87.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wade`s wife, singer Jeree Wade, said that he passed away on Thursday at his home in Montclair, New Jersey, following a struggle with Parkinson`s disease. When the Pittsburgh singer achieved success in 1961 with the love songs ‘Take Good Care of Her,’ which peaked at No. 7 (the song was later covered by Elvis Presley), ‘The Writing on the Wall,’ (No. 5) and ‘As If I Didn`t Know,’ he was compared to Johnny Mathis (No. 10).
Wade in a 2014 interview said ‘was trying to imitate Nat King Cole, my boyhood idol, not Johnny Mathis. So I guess that tells you how good my imitating skills were.’
In June 1975, Wade made history by being the first Black person to host a network game show with Don Kirshner’s Musical Chairs. The Spinners, Sister Sledge, and Irene Cara were among the musicians who provided assistance to contestants on the show, which was filmed at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York.
Wade alleged that a CBS affiliate in Alabama refused to air Musical Chairs because he was the host and that, despite the show’s popularity, producers received a lot of hate mail prior to its cancellation in October.
‘I`m sure [they] hid some of the letters from me,’ Wade said, ‘so I wouldn`t get upset. One I did see was from a guy who used all kinds of expletives, saying he didn`t want his wife sitting at home watching the black guy hand out the money and the smarts.’
Born on March 17, 1935, Patrick Henry Wade graduated from Pittsburgh’s Westinghouse High School in 1952. At Virginia State University, where he majored in science, he worked as a lab assistant for Dr. Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine in the 1950s.
Late in 1959, Wade obtained a record deal with Coed Records, and his songs ‘Ruby,’ a copy of Ruby Gentry`s 1952 theme song, and ‘Tell Her for Me’ swiftly reached the top of the charts.
After Musical Chairs, he resumed recording and in 2002 understudied for Ben Vereen in I`m Not Rappaport on Broadway. He also performed a lot of local theater.
Wade and Jeree got married in 1989 after meeting on the set of Musical Chairs. They frequently shared the stage together, including when he wrote and directed the play On Kentucky Avenue, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Survivors also include his children, Ramel, Patrice, Jamel and Latoya, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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